Pawl mechanisms are common components of ratchet wrenches. A pawl mechanism can include a pawl that grips a drive gear to selectively allow rotation of the drive gear in a first rotational direction, but substantially prevent relative rotation of the drive gear in a second rotational direction opposite the first rotational direction to apply torque to a work piece. Likewise, the pawl can be selectively disposed to allow rotation in the second rotational direction, while substantially preventing relative rotation of the drive gear in the first rotational direction to apply torque to the work piece in an opposite manner. The pawl mechanism can include a pair of pawls. such that the user of the ratchet wrench can select one of the two rotational directions with a reversing lever, and either insert or remove a work piece by rotating the ratchet wrench in a selected direction. For example, with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the pawl mechanism 400 can include a first pawl 402 and a second pawl 404 separated by a pawl spring 406. The first 402 and second 404 pawls can respectively include first 406 and second 408 posts that can be gripped by a reversing lever (not shown). The first 402 and second 404 pawls can also respectively include first 412 and second 414 internal surfaces.
Many times, when a work piece is removed, the work piece reaches a point when it requires less torque compared to earlier in the removal process, and “breaks loose” from the work surface. For example, when a bolt is initially loosened from a nut or receiving threads, a certain amount of torque must be applied to initially loosen the bolt. Once the both is initially loosened, the amount of torque required to continue removing the bolt is typically less. Under such circumstances, there is a rapid decrease in the amount of torque applied to the work piece, and the first pawl 402 can disengage with the drive gear and strike the second pawl 404 (or vice versa). When this occurs, the first internal surface 412 can push toward the second internal surface 414 and substantially compress the pawl spring 406 to the point of damaging the spring. At times, movement of the first pawl 402 towards the second pawl 404 can make the pawl spring 406 “go solid,” or over-compress to the point where the coils of the pawl spring 406 touch, and where additional compressive forces do not further compress the pawl spring 406. Over-compression can damage the pawl spring 406, reducing the durability of the ratchet wrench, and limiting the performance of the ratchet wrench during its lifetime.